Chips – Elmo Hope
Elmo Hope is a master of unforgettable melodies, and after hearing Chips even just one time, we guarantee you'll be humming it all day. Lead sheets, second parts and C condensed score available for Elmo's original quintet version, plus Minus You versions in two different tempos, in the key of D♭.
- Recording: Elmo Hope - New Faces-New Sounds: Elmo Hope Quintet, vol.2
- Recorded on: May 9, 1954
- Label: Blue Note (BLP 5044 10" LP)
- Concert Key: A-flat
- Style: Swing (medium)
- Trumpet - Freeman Lee
- Tenor Sax - Frank Foster
- Piano - Elmo Hope
- Bass - Percy Heath
- Drums - Art Blakey
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Our audio excerpt starts with the melody, which is preceded on the recording by a four-measure 2-feel rhythm section intro which is notated in the C treble clef lead sheet. This is Elmo's four-feel medium (or you may even consider it a medium up tempo) quintet arrangement of Chips. Elmo also recorded Chips in 1961 as a trio arrangement at a slower medium swing tempo trio. Our C treble clef lead sheet contains both the trumpet melody and the tenor sax harmony parts. Separate second part Tenor Sax, Alto Sax and Trombone parts are also available.
"New Faces, New Sounds, Vol.2" was recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's legendary Hackensack Studio.
A little less than a year after recording his first album as a leader (a trio date for Blue Note on June 18, 1953), Elmo recorded this quintet session, also at Rudy Van Gelder's Hackensack studio and for Blue Note. Elmo recorded Chips again in 1961 for the Beacon label, this time at a slower tempo, and in a trio context with Paul Chambers and his old buddy Philly Joe Jones.
Get the MP3 of that 1961 version at Amazon.
For more details about Elmo Hope's recordings, check out the Elmo Hope Discography on Noal Cohen's Jazz History website.
Lyricist R. Rachel Mackin wrote a lyric to Chips titled Just A Little Dreamer. It's available in our folio Sing JAZZ!.
A little less than a year after recording his first album as a leader (a trio date for Blue Note on June 18, 1953), Elmo recorded this quintet session, also at Rudy Van Gelder's Hackensack studio and for Blue Note. Elmo recorded Chips again in 1961 for the Beacon label, this time at a slower tempo, and in a trio context with Paul Chambers and his old buddy Philly Joe Jones.
Get the MP3 of that 1961 version at Amazon.
For more details about Elmo Hope's recordings, check out the Elmo Hope Discography on Noal Cohen's Jazz History website.
Lyricist R. Rachel Mackin wrote a lyric to Chips titled Just A Little Dreamer. It's available in our folio Sing JAZZ!.
- Recording: Don Sickler - Further Explorations Vol. 1
- Recorded on: May 24, 2003
- Label: jazzleadsheets.com (JLS 1034)
- Concert Key: D-flat
- Style: Swing (medium)
- Flugelhorn - Don Sickler
- Piano - Cecilia Coleman
- Bass - Tim Givens
- Drums - Vince Cherico
We have two Minus You versions available for this song, both in the key of D♭. This lower key is easier for more inexperienced trumpet and trombone players. The two versions are in slightly different tempos, both slower than the original recording. The Minus You lead sheets work for both Minus You tracks (Vol. 1 medium swing & Vol. 2 medium slow swing); it includes the piano intros from both as the changes are slightly different in the two intros. Click on the Minus You tab for more information on the Minus You format.
Don Sickler: I like to play Chips in Elmo's original key (click on album cover to the left), but I also like the slower tempos in the new key. I love the challenge of making sure I have really learned the song and feel comfortable soloing on it. There's nothing like having to play at different tempos and in different keys to make sure you have it together! I hope you'll all get a chance to enjoy this experience.
Don Sickler: I like to play Chips in Elmo's original key (click on album cover to the left), but I also like the slower tempos in the new key. I love the challenge of making sure I have really learned the song and feel comfortable soloing on it. There's nothing like having to play at different tempos and in different keys to make sure you have it together! I hope you'll all get a chance to enjoy this experience.
"Further Explorations" was recorded at the legendary Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs.
The rhythm section background recording was originally created for a Sing JAZZ! accompaniment project. Don Sickler added the flugelhorn melody in 2017.
The rhythm section background recording was originally created for a Sing JAZZ! accompaniment project. Don Sickler added the flugelhorn melody in 2017.
clip This is the form.
-- intro
-- melody
-- flugelhorn solo 2 choruses
-- out melody
mp3 minus melody
-- tacet for the intro
-- play the melody
-- solo 2 choruses
-- play the out melody
mp3 minus Piano
-- count off sets up the intro
-- play the intro
-- comp for the melody
-- comp for the flugelhorn solo 2 choruses
-- comp for the out melody
mp3 minus Bass
-- count off sets up the intro
-- 2-feel for the intro
-- 2-feel and walk for the melody
-- walk for the flugelhorn solo 2 choruses
-- 2-feel and walk for the out melody
mp3 minus Drums—sticks throughout on the full track, but brushes could be used
-- count off sets up the intro
-- comp for the intro
-- comp for the melody
-- comp for the flugelhorn solo 2 choruses
-- comp for the out melody
-- intro
-- melody
-- flugelhorn solo 2 choruses
-- out melody
mp3 minus melody
-- tacet for the intro
-- play the melody
-- solo 2 choruses
-- play the out melody
mp3 minus Piano
-- count off sets up the intro
-- play the intro
-- comp for the melody
-- comp for the flugelhorn solo 2 choruses
-- comp for the out melody
mp3 minus Bass
-- count off sets up the intro
-- 2-feel for the intro
-- 2-feel and walk for the melody
-- walk for the flugelhorn solo 2 choruses
-- 2-feel and walk for the out melody
mp3 minus Drums—sticks throughout on the full track, but brushes could be used
-- count off sets up the intro
-- comp for the intro
-- comp for the melody
-- comp for the flugelhorn solo 2 choruses
-- comp for the out melody
- Recording: Don Sickler - Further Explorations Vol. 2
- Recorded on: May 24, 2003
- Label: jazzleadsheets.com (JLS 1035)
- Concert Key: D-flat
- Style: Swing (medium slow)
- Flugelhorn - Don Sickler
- Piano - Cecilia Coleman
- Bass - Tim Givens
- Drums - Vince Cherico
This version is a bit slower than the one on ""Further Explorations, Vol. 1." The piano intro is simpler: less syncopated with fewer notes. Click on the Minus You tab for the Minus You format.
"Further Explorations Vol.2" was recorded at the legendary Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs.
The rhythm section background recording was originally created for a Sing JAZZ! accompaniment project. Don Sickler added the flugelhorn melody in 2017.
The rhythm section background recording was originally created for a Sing JAZZ! accompaniment project. Don Sickler added the flugelhorn melody in 2017.
clip Both Minus You recordings have the same form. Only the tempo differs.
-- intro
-- melody
-- flugelhorn solo 2 choruses
-- out melody
mp3 minus melody
-- tacet for the intro
-- play the melody
-- solo 2 choruses
-- play the out melody
mp3 minus Piano
-- count off sets up the intro
-- play the intro
-- comp for the melody
-- comp for the flugelhorn solo 2 choruses
-- comp for the out melody
mp3 minus Bass
-- count off sets up the intro
-- 2-feel for the intro
-- 2-feel and walk for the melody
-- walk for the flugelhorn solo 2 choruses
-- 2-feel and walk for the out melody
mp3 minus Drums—sticks throughout on the full track, but brushes could be used
-- count off sets up the intro
-- comp for the intro
-- comp for the melody
-- comp for the flugelhorn solo 2 choruses
-- comp for the out melody
-- intro
-- melody
-- flugelhorn solo 2 choruses
-- out melody
mp3 minus melody
-- tacet for the intro
-- play the melody
-- solo 2 choruses
-- play the out melody
mp3 minus Piano
-- count off sets up the intro
-- play the intro
-- comp for the melody
-- comp for the flugelhorn solo 2 choruses
-- comp for the out melody
mp3 minus Bass
-- count off sets up the intro
-- 2-feel for the intro
-- 2-feel and walk for the melody
-- walk for the flugelhorn solo 2 choruses
-- 2-feel and walk for the out melody
mp3 minus Drums—sticks throughout on the full track, but brushes could be used
-- count off sets up the intro
-- comp for the intro
-- comp for the melody
-- comp for the flugelhorn solo 2 choruses
-- comp for the out melody
Elmo Hope
June 27, 1923 – May 19, 1967
An imaginative pianist who valued subtlety over virtuosity in the landscape of bebop, Elmo Hope never achieved the fame that his close friends did, perhaps because he so rejected stylistic norms of the time. Elmo was a classically trained pianist with technique rivaling that of his childhood friend Bud Powell and a composer of music whose inventiveness and complexity approaches that of Thelonious Monk. In fact, Elmo, Thelonious and Bud used to hang out so much together in the late 1940s they became known as "The Three Musketeers." Powell, in Francis Paudras' book "Dance of the Infidels" is quoted as saying, "You gotta hear Elmo. He's fabulous. His stuff is very hard. He does some things that even I have trouble playing." Read more...